Rep. Wes Breckenridge is resigning from the Iowa House effective September 10 after taking a job at the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy.

Breckenridge has represented House District 29 since 2016.

Iowa law requires a special election to be called within five days following a vacancy in the Iowa Legislature.

There is no primary, and candidates will be nominated directly by political parties.

The winning candidate will serve the remainder of Breckenridge’s term, which runs through 2022. 

The Illinois House of Representatives has returned to Springfield for a special session starting at noon today to consider urgent energy legislation and vote on the amendatory veto of Senate Bill 539 issued by Gov. JB Pritzker in August.

The Senate adopted the change on August 31, but the House rejected the change with a vote taken late in the evening after some members had left the session.

The bill expands state lobbyist registration requirements to the local level; prohibits all fundraising statewide during legislative sessions; expands revolving door restrictions; and requires certain consultants hired by a lobbyist or lobbying entity to register and report.

If the Amendatory Veto is accepted the bill will be effective January 1, 2022. 

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has announced a special election for House District 165 to coincide with the November 2 municipal elections.

If needed, a runoff will be held on November 30.

The House District 165 seat became vacant upon the passing of Rep. Mickey Stephens in August, who had held the seat continuously since 2009.

Campaign Finance

North Carolina: “NC Elections Board Fines Political Campaigns Combined $330K for Late or Missing Finance Reports” by Nate Morabido for WCNC

Wisconsin: “US Senate Candidate from Wisconsin Charged with Campaign Finance Violations” by Joe Kelly for Courthouse News Service

Elections

National: “Fears of Critical Race Theory Unleash Army of School Board Candidates” by Daniel Payne (Politico) for Yahoo News

California: “Fears Rise Over Disinformation in California’s Recall Election” by Reid Wilson (The Hill) for MSN

Ethics

National: “Encryption Poised to Hamper Jan. 6 Investigators’ Phone Records Push” by Nicholas Wu (Politico) for Yahoo News

National: “Ethics Panel Announces Four Investigations” by Chris Marquette (Roll Call) for MSN

New York: “Ethics Agency Subpoenaed in Investigation of Cuomo’s Book” by Chris Bragg (Albany Times Union) for Alton Telegraph

Ohio: “FBI Suspected Dayton Mayor Whaley of Bribery in 2014, Court Documents Show” by Jake Zuckerman (Ohio Capital Journal) for MSN

Lobbying

Montana: “Native Transgender Lobbyist Sues Conservative News Website for Libel” by Darrell Ehrlick (Montana Standard) for Missoula Current

New York: “Facebook Mum on Staffer Who May Have Broken Law Advising Cuomo on Sex Harass Claims” by Theo Wayt for New York Post

Maine Gov. Mills and Secretary of State Shenna Bellows announced a special election to be held on November 2 for House District 86.

The seat became vacant when Rep. Justin Fecteau resigned in July to pursue an out-of-state career opportunity.

The winner of the special election will serve the remainder of the two-year term that is set to expire December 6, 2022.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has selected September 28 as the date of the House District 118 special election to replace former state Rep. Leo Pacheco.

Pacheco resigned effective August 19 to accept a position with San Antonio College.

House District 118 is in San Antonio and covers parts of Bexar County south and east of the city.

New Hampshire Gov. Sununu announced a special election to be held on December 7 to fill the vacant state representative seat for Rockingham County District 6.

The seat was vacated when Rep. Anne Copp moved out of the district this summer.

The winner of the special election will serve the remainder of the term that is set to expire on November 30, 2022.

Justice Michael K. Davis of the Wyoming Supreme Court announced his plans to retire in January.

The retirement gives Republican Gov. Mark Gordon his first Supreme Court appointment.

Currently, all five sitting justices were appointed by former Gov. Matt Mead, also a Republican.

Gordon will select a justice from a list of three names submitted to him by the state Judicial Nominating Commission.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is calling state lawmakers back for a third special session on September 20 to begin redrawing legislative and Congressional districts.

Gov. Abbott also added other items to the agenda, including how to distribute federal pandemic aid and whether local governments can mandate the COVID-19 vaccine for employees.

The focus of the special session, however, will be squarely on redistricting, which occurs every 10 years after the release of new census data.

The state population grew by more than 4 million people since 2010. As a result, Texas gained two new Congressional seats and lawmakers must determine where to put them.

In addition, lawmakers will redraw their own Texas House and Senate districts to consider population growth and decline.

Campaign Finance

New Mexico: “Gonzales Denied Public Campaign Funding for the Second Time” by Jessica Dyer for Albuquerque Journal

Elections

National: “New Texas Voting Bill Deepens Growing Disparities in How Americans Can Cast Their Ballots” by Elise Viebeck (Washington Post) for MSN

Ethics

National: “Human Rights Campaign President Fired After Helping to Advise Cuomo” by Brian Pietsch and Michael Scherer (Washington Post) for MSN

California: “Bell City Manager, Ex-State Senator, Developer Charged in Corruption Case” by Richard Winston (Los Angeles Times) for Yahoo News

Maine: “Portland Councilor, a Plaintiff in Lawsuit Against the City, Won’t Recuse Herself from Dispute” by Randy Billings for Portland Press Herald

Montana: “How a Small Town Silenced a Neo-Nazi Hate Campaign” by Elizabeth Williamson (New York Times) for Yahoo News

New York: “Trump Tower’s Key Tenants Have Fallen Behind on Rent and Moved out. But Trump Has One Reliable Customer: His own PAC.” by Shayna Jacobs, David Fahrenthold, Jonathan O’Connell, and Josh Dawsey (Washington Post) for MSN

South Carolina: “SC Ethics Whistleblowers Are Bound by Gag Orders. A Lawsuit Will Challenge That.” by Avery Wilks for Charleston Post and Courier

On September 9, the Office of the Registrar of Lobbyists for British Columbia (ORL) will implement a change to its online registry that will allow for streamlining the process for declaring certain coalition activities.

The change involves answering additional questions regarding whether a lobbying activity being reported was a jointly signed or endorsed letter sent on behalf of one or more of the organizations listed in the associated registration return as members of a coalition to which the organization or client belongs. Rather than being reported by each of the coalition member of a joint letter, the letter will only need to be declared once as a coalition activity and only reported once by the organization or consultant lobbyist that communicated the joint letter to senior public office holders.

According to the ORL, a change in the online lobbying activity report forms will be visible to organizations that have declared in their registration returns that the organization is a member of a coalition. The change will also be visible to consultant lobbyists when they prepare lobbying activity reports for clients, if they have declared in the associated registration return that the client belongs to a coalition.

If an organization has not declared membership in a coalition, this change does not affect them. This change also does not affect consultant lobbyists whose clients are not members of coalitions.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear called a special session of the General Assembly to begin Tuesday, September 7.

The call comes two weeks after the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled a lower court was wrong to block new laws limiting the scope of the governor’s emergency powers, giving the Republicans’ legislative supermajority a substantial say over any new policy measures to address the pandemic.

The session will focus on legislation addressing the pandemic, but Beshear is asking lawmakers to consider a few unrelated matters.

Mississippi Rep. Abe Hudson Jr. has resigned effective August 30.

Hudson has held the 29^th District seat since winning a special election in 2016.

Gov. Tate Reeves will set a special election to fill the District 29 seat until the term ends in January 2024.

This is the third vacancy in the Mississippi Legislature to be filled in 2021.

Campaign Finance

Alaska: “Alaska Supreme Court Confirms an End to 2 Limits on Cash in Political Campaigns” by James Brooks (Anchorage Daily News) for Yahoo News

Arizona: “Trump Helped Bankroll Senate Audit, Texts Suggest” by Dillon Rosenblatt and Kyra Haas for Arizona Capitol Times

North Carolina: “Cooper Vetoes Restrictions on NC Nonprofit Donor Disclosure” by Associated Press for MSN

Ethics

National: “Corporate Boards, Consulting, Speaking Fees: How U.S. Generals Thrived After Afghanistan” by Isaac Stanley-Becker (Washington Post) for MSN

National: “Trump-Appointed Ambassador Directed Government Business to His Hotel, Emails Show” by Amy Wang and David Fahrenthold (Washington Post) for MSN

Illinois: “Republicans Upend Democratic Efforts to Show They’re Serious About Ethics Reform in Springfield” by Dan Petrella (Chicago Tribune) for MSN

Rhode Island: “Governor’s Former Chief of Staff Faces Fine Over Unregistered Construction Company” by Edward Fitzpatrick (Boston Globe) for MSN

Washington: “Employees Who Blew Whistle on Seattle Mayor’s Missing Texts File Lawsuit Against the City” by Lewis Kamb and Daniel Beekman for Seattle Times